Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), had been asking for three decades to join the European Union (EU).
Its demand was turned away by the EU in 1997, which led to a deterioration of bilateral relations.
There were a number of persistent problems attributed to Turkey: violations of human and civil rights; deficiencies in treatment of minorities, especially the Kurds; lack of civilian control over the military; economic policy not up to the EU's legal and administrative standards; and disputes with Greece.
For decades, Greece and Turkey have been at odds over the Cyprus problem, disputes in territorial waters, air space limits, and delimitation of the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea.
Greece has consistently blocked the 1 billion U.S. dollars EU financial aid to Turkey.
The U.S. along with Italy and Great Britain urged the EU to accept Turkey as its new member, influencing the EU a week after the rejection to issue a statement that confirmed the perspective of Turkey's full membership.
In 1999, after a devastating earthquake in Turkey, Greece agreed to lift its veto on funding Turkey and said it would support Turkey's efforts to join the EU if Ankara would improve its relations with Athens.
By December 1999, the EU decided to include Turkey in its list of accession and held a bilateral meeting to discuss the latter's prospects.
The EU noted that Turkey has initiated a program to increase economic growth and had released a leading human rights activist.
